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Should Whois Be Abandoned to Protect Privacy?

Privacy advocates are proposing that WHOIS, the system for identifying who owns domain names, be shutdown in order to protect people’s personal information. Meanwhile, proponents of the system, which has been in place since the early days of the Web, argue that it’s a useful tool for law enforcement to fight fraud and other malicious activity.

Today, domain registrars require you to enter information such as a physical address, email address, and a phone number in order to register a new domain. Under the so-called “sunset proposal,” individual domain registrars such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions would be able to decide what type of information to keep on customers.

It’s a tricky debate. Many domain registrars offer options for hiding your domain registration information, but I’ve often come across companies that don’t want to do business with someone with hidden registration details, since the WHOIS records provide confirmation that you are indeed affiliated with the web site in question. However, as someone that works from home, I don’t especially like the idea of having my physical address available to anyone who wants it with just a few clicks.

In any event, the proposal will be debated on Wednesday before an ICANN committee. What are your thoughts? Keep the system open, or offer more privacy options to protect domain owners?

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